Naturalist Weekend at Grandfather Mountain

Here's a neat Spring event coming up the weekend of May 14-16: The Grandfather Mountain Naturalist Weekend, which features programs and guided walks around Grandfather, all included in the price of admission.

The programs kick off with a "nocturnal walkabout" led by Grandfather's chief naturalist on Friday night. Saturday's programs include birding and nature walks, a black bear workshop, a history feature on the Linn Cove Viaduct and a presentation on growing medicinal herbs. Sunday features a wildflower walk, presentations on birds of prey, the State Parks Program, salamanders and "How to be green without painting yourself". You can view the entire schedule of programs and details at the Grandfather Mountain website.

What is Grandfather Mountain, you ask? Grandfather Mountain, 5,946 feet above sea level, is a park and globally-recognized nature preserve with great diversity in animal and plant life. Grandfather has hiking trails, a nature museum, environmental habitats for wildlife, great areas for picnicking, and a "Mile High Swing Bridge" where you can take in some spectacular views (like the one below from our trip in early October of last year):

And keep in mind that May is an excellent month for seeing wildflowers and birds in the Grandfather Mountain area and all throughout Western North Carolina.

Grandfather Mountain is approximately 45 minutes' drive from the Inn on Mill Creek along the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway to Highway 221 (or alternatively, you can take scenic Highway 221 all the way to Grandfather).

Our Next Kiva Loan Goes To...

We became lenders on Kiva shortly after buying our Bed & Breakfast to assist other small business owners in realizing their dream of making their businesses successful, while helping in the fight against global poverty. This week, we partnered with 13 other lenders on Kiva to help our 20th entrepreneur, Leonora Debarbo (pictured above). Leonora lives in the Phillippines, where she has been farming since 1995. She wants to expand her business, so she's asked for a loan to buy farm supplies. We wish Leonora much success with her business!

One cool thing we like about Kiva is that they have people called Kiva Fellows, who travel to the countries where the business owners live to file progress reports in what's known as a "Kiva Field Update". This allows lenders to often get a closer look at the people they are helping or to see that borrower's progress with his or her business, to learn about the Field Partners (the microlending institutions that disburse the loans and check on payments), and to learn about the countries as well.

Our latest Kiva Field Update came to us from Senegal, the home country of Ndeye. Ndeye is the widowed mother of six and owner of a clothing store who was the recipient of one of our 2009 loans. What we learned was pretty cool -- the Kiva Fellows print out the borrower's page on Kiva to show that borrower the photos and names of the lenders who financed his or her loan. The Kiva Fellow then said this:

Can you think of anything more encouraging for an entrepreneur in rural Senegal than showing her that her business is supported by people all over the globe who appreciate her hard work? Most borrowers react as follows: they first gaze at the sheet in unbelieving amazement, say "wow" and then receive the profile with a smile on their face.

Reading that in the same hour that we clicked on "lend" for our next Kiva loan was a nice way to end the day today.

2010 Taste of Black Mountain *Updated May 6*

There are lots of events in our area of Western North Carolina in the month of May, including Taste of Black Mountain, which will take place Thursday, May 13, 2010.

Taste of Black Mountain is your chance to sample the fabulous cuisine of many of Black Mountain's restaurants, as well as enjoy beer and wine tastings. The town of Black Mountain has dozens of local restaurants, serving everything from Thai, Japanese (we hear Nobi opens in May!), Italian and German to vegetarian, Southern, BBQ, and farm-to-table. Since we love our local eateries, we proudly serve as one of the sponsors of this delicious event.

Participating restaurants and breweries so far include Inn on Mill Creek guest favorites such as:

Berliner Kindl
Black Mountain Bistro
Camino's
Cellar Door
Madison's
Pisgah Brewing
Que Sera

Plus... Beacon Bistro, Black Eyed Susan Catering, Johnnie's Catering, Kilwin's, Red Rocker, State Street BBQ and even a little something for our innpugs, Csaba and Bugsy, from Bone-a-fide Bakery and Pet Boutique! More restaurants are expected to be added by the time of the event. We'll update this post when we learn of the additions.

Update (May 6) -- click here to see the current list of participants

Taste of Black Mountain, which is in its tenth year, has a new location: the ultra-cool music and event venue, White Horse Black Mountain. Tickets are $20 in advance and $30 at the door. You can get tickets at the Black Mountain-Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center on State Street in downtown Black Mountain, call 828.669.2300, or visit www.exploreblackmountain.com. We hope to see you there -- just watch for Brigette juggling three plates (all for herself) and Dave on the lookout for scrumptious seafood samples.

Spring, ahhhhh Spring

We love Spring. It's now our favorite season (albeit Autumn is a strong second). Here in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Spring is a three-month-long happy spell, where vibrant green is everywhere, you can walk down the street under flowering trees while their blossoms flutter down to the ground around you in movie-like fashion, wildflowers like the one above pop up all over the place, and it becomes harder and harder to remember that Old Man Winter was just here a couple of months ago (even this past winter that was harsher than most).

Over the past couple of weeks, we saw the return of two beautiful creatures that mean Spring has most definitely arrived: the American Goldfinches and the butterflies that hang out all Spring and Summer in the Pool Garden (our main garden that was once a swimming pool). In April, the center of the garden is covered in purple creeping phlox (matches our McDowell Quilt Trail quilt block), which is then covered in dozens of butterflies. The most we've counted was 34 at one time.







Our American Goldfinches head back our way at the same time as the butterflies. First, we hear them. They have a truly happy song. Then we see them one-by-one venturing over to our finch feeder next to the dining solarium. The males are bright yellow with a black cap. The homepage of our website currently has a photo of the most vocal and most social of our males.



This guy looks new to the neighborhood. Welcome, little buddy.



By summer, a group of 6-12 finches (depending on the day) rise and shine and eat breakfast on a regular basis at the same time as our guests, so everyone gets to enjoy one another's company.

I-40 Reopens April 27 for NC and Tennessee Travel

Since late October of 2009, our guests traveling to us in Western North Carolina from Tennessee have had a lengthier drive, due to a rock slide near the North Carolina/Tennessee border, which necessitated the closure of Interstate 40 in both directions and an I-40 detour (a lengthy, albeit extremely scenic detour through our gorgeous mountains).

We got great news recently: This pretty little section of Interstate 40 is set to reopen on Tuesday, April 27. Yes, that's right, the detour will soon be no more. Both eastbound lanes will open; one westbound lane will open while a three-mile section of the other westbound lane will remain closed so crews can work through the summer on installing anchor mesh and rock bolts at five additional sites.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has been keeping us all well-informed of their progress since the rock slide happened, with cool photos, animation and videos, and today we got the word that crews had finished installing the last of the 540+ rock bolts needed to reopen the highway. (Interesting trivia bit: The bolts are between 50 to 120 feet long and are made of 1 3/4 inch thick steel rods that weigh about 10 pounds per foot).

To see some footage of the work that's been done since October, check out NCDOT's Youtube channel. They have video from last week showing how the crews drilled into the vertical slope of the mountain. And for you Mythbusters-esque explosion lovers out there (*coughcough*InnkeeperDave*coughcough*), here's a cool video (about 0:25 seconds in) of the rock blasting in November. About a minute in to the video, you'll see the vast amount of rock that was on the road.



Kudos to the NCDOT for getting the work done and making the road safe in time for our guests to enjoy an absolutely gorgeous Spring here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. And thanks to all our past guests for being patient in getting to the Inn during the past six months!

East of Asheville Studio Tour Spring 2010

The gorgeous work of EAST artist Mike Taylor/Willow Wisp Farm Studios

For those of you who have ever bought a piece of artwork and imagined the artist creating it, or wondered how it was done, the East of Asheville Studio Tour (EAST) gives you the opportunity to find out.

As lucky residents of this beautiful area and huge supporters of our talented local artists, we have the fortune of being a sponsor of this free, self-guided tour, which takes place twice a year. The Spring tour is just around the corner: May 1-2, 2010 (10am-6pm).

EAST features artists from Black Mountain, Swannanoa and the East Asheville area, who open up their studios and welcome residents and guests to the area to visit any and all of the studios and artists. A variety of mediums are represented during the studio tour, from wood, fiber, metal and clay to jewelry, pottery, photography and painting. We're excited to share that there are more than 30 stops on the tour this year!

You can download a map from the EAST website, or pick one up at various locations, including the Inn on Mill Creek.

First Annual Mountain Thunder Car Show

Photo from McDowellNC.org

We're excited about a new event coming to our area: The Route 70 Cruisers will be hosting the first annual Mountain Thunder Car Show in the town of Old Fort on Saturday, April 24.

Who are the Route 70 Cruisers? They are based in our county, McDowell County, and their name comes from Highway Route 70, which was the main highway in the area before I-40 was constructed. We love this description from the Route 70 Cruisers website:

We are a group of car enthusiasts who came together with a common goal. To cruise, enjoy our cars and enjoy being with family, friends and cruisers with the same common interest. We believe that cars were made to be driven and enjoyed.

The car show is free and will be held from 9am to 5pm, on Commerce Street, about 15 minutes from the Inn on Mill Creek. Along with the opportunity to see cars, motorcycles and trucks on display from various clubs in the area, you can also check out crafts, enjoy great food and hear a musical performance by the Rewind Band, all in our charming little town of Old Fort (which also will be celebrating Pioneer Day on April 24).

White Garden Update

We started a new flower garden last year on the south side of the Lake House near the Mountain Laurel Room. The garden consists of plants with white flowers and/or silver-foliage. The garden is still in its botanical infancy, or, as we like to say, it's budding.

Last November, we put in the first of what will likely be dozens of bulbs if Brigette has her way, and these first bulbs made their debut this week! We have white tulips and white daffodils (with a splashy center, pictured above).



Earlier this season, we had snowdrops and white hyacinths, which are done blooming now. Of course, we captured the hyacinths on film for posterity and enjoyment (and we wish we could have captured their scent because it was heavenly!):



Coming up next in the bloom schedule for this garden are our white bleeding hearts, then the white peonies (just peeking out of the ground now), then two varieties of white roses should be next, followed by white daylilies and daisies, as well as our miniature white butterfly bush and white yarrow.

In the next few weeks, we'll be planting some white annuals as well as a shrub or two...still deciding which shrubs to choose...stay tuned!

Early Spring Flowers at the Inn

It's been rather warm the past few days and Spring is really ramping up. The trees are starting to turn that vibrant Spring green with new leaves, plus dogwoods, star magnolias, pear and cherry trees are happily blooming in our part of Western North Carolina, making for a pretty drive, even just to the grocery store.

Here at the Inn, our crocuses are pretty much finished, and we now have daffodils out in full bloom (three happy ones pictured above), as well as purple and white grape hyacinths, pink, blue and white giant hyacinths, pansies, while our scene-stealer -- the miniature weeping cherry, peaked on April 5:



Check out more photos taken at the Inn this past week on our B&B Facebook page.

And if you'll be traveling to our neck of the woods this Spring season, here are some handy links to places where you can maximize your bloom enjoyment:

Blooming now at Biltmore Estate
Chimney Rock State Park Trails
Grandfather Mountain Wildflower Bloom Calendar
North Carolina Arboretum Gardens and Collections

North Carolina Gold Festival and Pioneer Day

Our county, McDowell County, North Carolina, has a really wonderful history dating back to the country's beginnings. Two upcoming events will celebrate distinctly different pieces of that historical legacy:

North Carolina Gold Festival - Taking place the weekend of April 9-10 this year at Tom Johnson's Rally Park in Marion, the annual Gold Festival celebrates the area's rich (figuratively and literally!) history with gold. Did you know...North Carolina was the largest producer of gold in the country until 1848? During the Gold Festival, you can learn about NC's gold history by checking out exhibits and viewing gold mining techniques and demonstrations.

While at the Gold Festival, you can also browse arts and crafts booths, eat some great food and participate in scavenger hunts, geocaching and gold panning. Entertainment includes local bands on Friday as well as an evening gospel concert at 6pm, led by Purpose, The Blairs and Glory Land Way Quartet. Saturday's music and entertainment will be provided by The Can't Hardly Play Boys as well as Nashville recording artist Juleigh Ed. See www.ncgold.org for more information.

Pioneer Day - The town of Old Fort, North Carolina, celebrates its mountain heritage with an annual event called Pioneer Day on the grounds of the Mountain Gateway Museum.


Mountain Gateway Museum (credit: McDowell TDA)

Pioneer Day will be held on Saturday, April 24, 2010, from 9am to 5:30pm, and will feature mountain music at the outdoor museum ampitheatre, weaving, blacksmithing and pottery turning demonstrations, as well as other craft demos, plus food and vendors. (The Mountain Gateway Museum is a state-run museum showcasing the mountain lifestyle and pioneer-era history.)

More events are taking place this Spring in our county...stay tuned for details!